My Happy Money Journey: money for mid life women with Phoebe Blamey

S4 E27 The things you need to know about the Federal Budget 2026

The 12 May federal budget made big moves on family trusts, capital gains tax and negative gearing. Phoebe walks through what actually changed, who it affects, and the steps to take now, with women at the centre of the conversation.
The federal budget handed down on 12 May proposed three major tax changes. First, from 1 July 2028, discretionary (family) trusts will pay a minimum of 30 percent tax on their taxable income, effectively ending the income splitting strategy that has run Australian family businesses for fifty years. Second, from 1 July 2027, the 50 percent capital gains tax discount is being replaced by cost base indexation with a 30 percent minimum tax on the gain. Third, negative gearing losses on residential property purchased after 7.30pm on 12 May 2026 will only be deductible against other residential property income, not against salary or wages. None of these measures are law yet. Women are often the beneficiaries of family trusts they did not set up, which makes the trust change especially worth understanding.
This episode is general in nature and is not personal financial or tax advice. None of these measures are law yet; they are proposed. Phoebe's key sources were the ATO explainer sheets. Speak to your accountant or licensed financial adviser about your own situation.

S4 E26 Bank of Mum and Dad: How to Help Your Adult Children Without Wrecking Your Retirement

The Bank of Mum and Dad is now somewhere between the fifth and ninth largest mortgage lender in Australia. That's not a metaphor. That's Finder research from 2025.
Seventeen percent of first-home buyers now receive help from their parents to save a deposit — up from eleven percent in 2022. Seventy-five percent of that help is gifted, not loaned. And the average gift sits at $74,040… though in real life, as a former mortgage broker, Phoebe regularly saw two, three, four times that figure cross the table.
And it's not just deposits. It's the wedding. The school fees. The second car. The credit card debt. The bond money when they suddenly had to move. The family holiday you "treated everyone" to.
For many Australian women in their 50s and 60s, this is now the second largest line item in their financial life — after their own mortgage or rent.
And here's the part nobody is talking about: we didn't sign up for this the way our mothers did. They raised us, packed us off with a Vegemite jar of cutlery and a casserole dish, and were essentially financially done. We're mothering and funding well into our 60s and 70s — and we're quietly tipping in without saying a word at book club, at dinner, or sometimes even to our own partner.
In this episode, Phoebe Blamey unpacks one of the most important — and least discussed — financial issues facing midlife Australian women right now. Because the maths is brutal. The average woman aged 60–64 has around $318,000 in super. A comfortable single retirement needs closer to $595,000. The gap between those two numbers is exactly the kind of gap created by 10 or 15 years of "just helping the kids out."
You'll hear:
The three biggest financial blast radiuses of getting Bank of Mum and Dad wrong — including the $200,000 deposit that walks straight out the door in a property settlement, and the inheritance fight you create from beyond the grave without ever meaning to
Why the Family Court treats gifts and loans completely differently in Australia — and the simple, inexpensive paperwork that protects your child (and your money) if a marriage ever goes sideways
The five conversations to have at the kitchen table on a Sunday morning, when nobody is in crisis — before the phone rings late at night
Why your only job when your adult child arrives in marital distress is to listen — and the one exception where the rules completely change
How to have the fairness conversation while everyone is still alive (because fair and equal are not the same thing — and the version of this conversation that destroys sibling relationships is always the one held silently, in a will)
The single biggest mindset shift that makes all of this stick: you are the lighthouse, not the lifeboat
This episode is for the woman who is capable, educated, earning well, and increasingly realising she needs to be the one making the calls — not deferring to a husband, an adviser, or a default "yes" when her adult children ask. Because the greatest transfer of generational wealth in history is moving toward women, and learning to hold money — not just spend it or give it away — is the skill of this decade.
Decide your line now, while the weather is calm and the seas aren't stormy.
You can love your children ferociously and still hold your line. Those two things are not in conflict. The line is love.
Disclaimer: The information in this podcast is general in nature and does not constitute personal financial advice or recommendations.

S4 E25 Who's afraid of beng the eldest daughter?

When my friend Kate (not her real name) broke down on the phone to me three weeks into managing her father's estate, and the line she said that I have heard from a hundred women: "I'm doing all this and I haven't even looked at my own super in years." I had one thought!
There's a phrase doing the rounds; eldest daughter syndrome! It's funny on Instagram until you realise the finance industry has been tracking the same thing for years, and it has some really scary implications for our generation. 
JBWere call it the oldest daughter effect. When wealth transfers in an Australian family, it's the eldest daughter who is most likely to end up managing the estate - roughly 50% more likely than other siblings. She didn't ask for it. She's just the one everyone already trusts to deal with things.
In this episode, we unpack what happens when the woman who has carried everyone, suddenly has to carry the money too. We look at the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in Australian history — somewhere between $3.5 and $5 trillion and the staggering fact that about 65% of it is heading into the hands of women. Most of whom have never been the financial decision-maker in their own lives. If we want the world to change we need to understand what this means. 
We talk about the three disasters that no one talks about and drain inherited wealth: the wrong-beneficiary super, the death-benefits tax mistake, and the inherited adviser nobody chose. We walk through five things you can do this week to step out of the eldest-daughter trap and into your own financial authority, including the one nobody tells you about: breaking the silence.
This is the episode to send to your sister, your mother, your daughter, and the friend who has been carrying it all alone because taking this on gives us the opportunity to impact the world.  
#EldestDaughterSyndrome #EldestDaughter #WomenAndMoney #AustralianWomen #MyHappyMoneyJourney #PhoebeBlamey #MidlifeMoney #WomenOver50

S4 E24 How to Stop Overspending and Start Making Smarter Money Decisions

Think women are bad with money? Think again.
In this episode, we unpack the truth about spending habits, financial confidence, and why intelligent spending—not restriction—is the real key to taking control of your money.
If you’ve ever felt guilty after buying something, avoided checking your bank account, or swung between being overly frugal and overspending, you’re not alone. And more importantly—you’re not broken.
Phoebe shares real-life examples of how intentional spending works in practice, including how she saved over $300 on headphones and cut the cost of a 20-book series down to $40—without sacrificing quality or outcomes.
This episode introduces a simple but powerful 4-question framework to help you make smarter financial decisions on any purchase over $50. It’s practical, realistic, and designed for women who want to feel in control of their money again.
Because financial confidence doesn’t come from earning more—it comes from knowing how to decide.

S4 E23 The money conversations to have when things get too hard...

If you’re suddenly finding yourself pausing before you open your banking app, this episode will hit close to home.
Because the pressure is real right now,  rising costs, inconsistent income, tax debt, family responsibilities… it adds up. For most of us, it doesn’t explode overnight — it quietly builds until things feel tight, overwhelming, or just not sustainable anymore.
In this episode, Phoebe Blamey breaks down what’s actually happening beneath financial stress, especially for capable women who are used to handling everything.
We talk about why smart, successful women still end up in financial hardship… how fear and avoidance start to shape your decisions… and why confidence drops long before the numbers are fully out of control.
This isn’t a “budget better” conversation.
It’s a real look at how financial pressure builds — and more importantly, how to take back control without shame or panic.
You’ll learn how to recognise the early signs of financial stress, what’s really going on psychologically when you start avoiding money, and the exact conversations to have when things feel unmanageable — whether that’s with your partner, your lender, or the ATO.
If you’re dealing with tax debt, cash flow issues, or that constant background anxiety about money… this episode will help you step out of avoidance and into action.
Because you’re not failing.
You’re responding to pressure.
And once you understand that — you can change it.

S4 E22 You don't know what you don't know until you do!

You’re smart. Capable. Experienced. You run businesses, families, teams, and entire lives.
So why does the conversation about money still make you go quiet?
In this episode, Phoebe breaks down one of the biggest hidden issues facing women — not a lack of intelligence, but a lack of financial language. When you don’t fully understand money, you don’t lean in… you retreat. And that avoidance quietly costs you power, confidence, and control.
This is not about shame. This is about clarity.
Phoebe walks through six essential money concepts that most people think they “should” understand — but often don’t — and explains them in simple, real-world terms. More importantly, she unpacks how getting it wrong creates fear, and how fear leads to avoidance.
And why that cycle stops here.
Because money isn’t about being good or bad.It’s about understanding the rules — and deciding to learn them.

S4 E21 Who are you and what do you want?

If you’ve ever reached a point where you’re wondering what comes next, this conversation will help you reconnect with your own direction and start designing the next chapter intentionally.
In this episode of My Happy Money Journey, Phoebe explores why this question can feel so difficult — and why midlife is actually the most powerful moment to answer it.
You’ll learn how identity, motivation and even brain science influence the direction of your life. Phoebe breaks down powerful ideas from psychology explaining how clarity about your future changes the opportunities you see and the actions you take.
The episode also explores why intrinsic not extrinsic motivation is so powerful and why many women spend decades pursuing goals driven by expectations rather than personal meaning.
Most importantly, Phoebe explains why you don't need a million dollars but you do need clarity! Financial clarity creates agency  the ability to make decisions about your life without fear.
If you’ve ever reached a point where you’re wondering what comes next, this conversation will help you reconnect with your own direction and start designing the next chapter intentionally.

S4 E20 What do your next 10 years look like?

If nothing about your life changed financially in the next ten years…
Your income stayed the same.Your savings stayed the same.Your health stayed the same.
Would you feel calm about the future or worried?
In this episode, Phoebe Blamey explores why midlife may be the most powerful decade to reshape your financial future. With greater earning capacity, life experience, and clarity about what truly matters, women in their 40s and 50s are uniquely positioned to design the next chapter of their lives.
Rather than drifting through financial decisions, this episode looks at how women can move toward intentional wealth, financial independence, and lifestyle freedom.
Phoebe explains the three financial paths many people drift into — survival mode, comfortable but constrained, or intentional wealth — and how thoughtful planning can help you design a future with more choice and confidence.
You’ll also discover why financial planning alone isn’t enough. Health, strength, and energy are essential foundations for enjoying the wealth and freedom you’re building.
If you’re a woman navigating midlife, thinking about retirement planning, financial independence, or simply wanting more control over your money and your future, this episode will help you start designing the next ten years intentionally.

S4_E19 How to Handle Financial Uncertainty After a Major Decision

Making a major life change is hard enough.
But what happens when the world shifts underneath you after you’ve already made the decision?
You leave the job.Start the business.End the relationship.Invest in something new.
And then suddenly the economy changes, interest rates move, the news cycle fills with fear, and everything starts to feel uncertain.
In this episode of My Happy Money Journey, Phoebe Blamey explores what happens when personal change collides with external uncertainty — and why so many people lose confidence at exactly the moment they need it most.
Drawing on her own experience leaving a high-earning corporate job just weeks before the Global Financial Crisis, Phoebe explains why uncertainty can destabilise even the most thoughtful decisions and how to stay grounded when things feel shaky.
Because the truth is this: uncertainty doesn’t mean you made the wrong decision.
It simply means you’re in the messy middle of change.
Phoebe shares a practical five-step framework for navigating uncertainty, helping you move forward with clarity rather than panic.

S4 E18 Petrol Price Panic - how to stay financially calm in this crisis

Petrol prices have suddenly become one of the most talked-about topics in Australia.
You fill up the car, watch the numbers climb, and suddenly the conversation shifts from fuel to something much bigger; financial uncertainty.
In this episode of My Happy Money Journey, Phoebe Blamey explores why rising petrol prices are triggering such strong emotional reaction from so many people, but also and how financial anxiety spreads through communities long before the economic data changes.
Drawing on behavioural economics and real-world examples, Phoebe explains why women often report higher financial stress during periods of economic uncertainty because they are managing more moving parts at once.
When costs rise, those margins feel tighter.
But panic isn’t the answer.
Instead of reacting from scarcity, Phoebe shares how small, practical financial habits can restore calm and control when the cost of living rises.
From simple transport decisions to understanding fixed versus flexible spending, this episode is about responding thoughtfully to economic uncertainty rather than spiralling into financial fear.
Because financial confidence doesn’t come from controlling the world.
It comes from knowing how to respond when the world changes.